close
Search:
General Motors made a large and stunning announcement recently, confirming roughly 15% of its global workforce will be terminated or bought out. More than 14,000 people will be out of a job in 2019 or earlier including 25% of executives. Under the guise of a rather positive sounding press release, โ€œGeneral Motors Accelerates Transformation,โ€ company chairman and CEO Mary Barra said, โ€œThe actions we are taking today continue our transformation to be highly agile, resilient and profitable while giving us the flexibility to invest in the future.โ€ Seven plants will be shuttered with total cash savings resulting in $6 billion through cost reductions and lower capital expenditures. Barraโ€™s comments continued: โ€œWe recognize the need to stay in front of changing market conditions and customer preferences to position our company for long-term success.โ€ One of Barraโ€™s predecessors was Charles E. Wilson, CEO of General Motors between 1941 and 1953. During confirmation hearings before a Senate Committee in 1952โ€”where Wilson was still CEO of the companyโ€”he responded to a question about conflicts of interest by Senator Robert Hendrickson as follows: โ€œFor years I thought that what was good for our country was good for General Motors, and vice versa. The difference did not exist. Our company is too big. It goes with the welfare of the country.โ€ Perhaps Wilsonโ€™s comments were a harbinger for 2019. Tucked away in GMโ€™s press release announcing the closures was a signalโ€”indeed a potent portentโ€”for the current White House administration to consider: โ€œGM now intends to prioritize future vehicle investments in its next-generation battery-electric architectures.โ€ It is the sound of both innovation and sustainability. While Tesla gets an inordinate amount of mainstream media press as it continues to accelerate โ€œthe world's transition to sustainable energy with electric cars, solar panels and integrated renewable energy solutions,โ€ slowly and quietly organizations like GM are being forced to do the same. Itโ€™s the 2018 version of kill or be killed. When a company the size of GMโ€”with more than $145 billion in annual revenuesโ€”is forced to lay off 14,000 people while shuttering seven of its plants, I wonder if the White House sees the connection to Wilsonโ€™s quote some 65 years ago. โ€œIt goes with the welfare of the country,โ€ said Wilson, which should frighten any senior member of Trumpโ€™s administration. America has taken far too long to curb its dependence on oil. The same might be said concerning an overreliance on all non-renewable resources. And nowโ€”demonstrated by the example of GMโ€”more than 14,000 people are out of work as the company tries to expedite its โ€œnext-generation battery-electric architectures.โ€ Who might be next? What large organization with thousands of employees will be issuing a press release in 2019 announcing its plans to shave the workforce? What large organization will realize that its own strategy needs updatingโ€”and in an expedited fashionโ€”such that it does not perish? What organization is currently reading the tea leaves of an old-fashioned, outdated approach to business? I see Wilsonโ€™s comment not only as a harbinger but a renewed call for the White House and leaders from all levels of government to incentivize companies. Organizations need to expedite their innovation such that sustainable means of operating becomes the norm. When the organizationโ€™s plans finally change, perhaps the workforce can be retrained (and retained) rather than terminated so they might be part of the solution, and assist the transformation. _________

WHILE YOUโ€™RE HEREโ€ฆ

I call it Open Thinking, the return to a balanced archetype of reflection and action; the poised intertwining of Creative, Critical and Applied Thinking. Full details are found in my new book, OPEN TO THINK: Slow Down, Think Creatively, and Make Better Decisions, now available for purchase. It is time to rethink our thinking.

ORDER TODAY

Click Below

[one_half]amazon-com-logoindigoindiebound[/one_half][one_half]barnes-and-noble-logo-png-10Kobo_logo [/one_half]  

   

Watch the TED Talk on Open Thinking

   
WORK-LIFE BLOOM

PERSONAL ASSESSMENT

Find out if youโ€™re currently blooming, budding, stunted or in need of renewal through the Work-Life Bloom Personal Assessment.

START ASSESSMENT  

Testimonials

  • We are so proud to have had you at our event. Your talk was a big hit. It moved us. We canโ€™t thank you enough.

    Malin Bjรถrnell, Salesforce
  • Dan challenged us to have clarity of purpose, both as individuals and as an organization. He related inspiring stories drawing on his experience in business, technology and academia. As he said, โ€˜There is no ownership without belonging.โ€™

    Christian Pantel, D2L
  • Fantastic engaging talk for our global partner summit. Thank you so much, Dan!

     

    Barb Kinnard, CEO Response Biomedical Corp
  • Dan not only brought his presentation to life with his charisma, but also content, style and presentation finesse. Our members were especially interested in his thought provoking and top of mind topic on the future of work and how weโ€™re going to be leading the next generation of leaders.

    Cheryl Goodwin, CPA
  • Dan is a conference organizerโ€™s ideal speaker. Not only did he inspire and energize our group, but he also masterfully adapted his content so it resonated with the audience and our conference theme. As a bonus, Dan is able to nimbly navigate to adjust to a reduced time slot when other speakers went over time without sacrificing the impact of his session.

    Director and General Counsel
  • Dan accomplished what we set out to do, which was not only to be inspirational, but also to leave everyone with tools and food for thought / self-reflection to improve their personal and professional lives.

    Hermann Handa, FCT

Media Appearances

sidebar hashtag menu home office pencil images camera headphones music video-camera bullhorn connection mic book books file-empty files-empty folder folder-open price-tag barcode qrcode cart coin-dollar coin-euro mobile user users user-plus user-minus key lock unlocked glass mug spoon-knife fire bin switch cloud-download cloud-upload bookmark star-empty star-half star-full play pause stop backward forward first last previous next eject volume-high volume-medium volume-low volume-mute amazon google whatsapp twitter dribbble behance behance-black github appleinc finder windows8 skype pinterest pinterest-o chrome firefox edge safari opera file-pdf file-word file-excel html-five asterisk search search-plus search-minus cog arrow-circle-o-down arrow-circle-o-up edit share-square-o check-square-o arrows question-circle arrow-left arrow-right arrow-up arrow-down mail-forward expand compress eye eye-slash comment twitter-square facebook-square camera-retro cogs comments thumbs-o-up thumbs-o-down sign-out linkedin-square external-link sign-in unlock feed bell-o arrow-circle-left arrow-circle-right arrow-circle-up arrow-circle-down globe filter arrows-alt link paperclip bars envelope linkedin rotate-left bell angle-left angle-right angle-up angle-down desktop mail-reply mail-reply-all chain-broken chevron-circle-left chevron-circle-right chevron-circle-up chevron-circle-down html5 unlock-alt youtube-square youtube-play dropbox stack-overflow apple windows trello female male arrow-circle-o-right arrow-circle-o-left wordpress file-image-o paper-plane paper-plane-o share-alt cc-visa cc-paypal cc-stripe bell-slash bell-slash-o facebook-official trademark registered wikipedia-w question-circle-o